Existential Issues
Everything Is Permitted: Our Lives Have No Inherent Meaning or Purpose, but Rather It Is the Purpose We Create for Our Lives That Gives Them a Sense of Meaning
You’ve done what you should have. Followed all the good advice. Now you don’t know what to do and worse, who you are. This video may help explain and give you an idea about the phenomena you are in.
Do You Struggle with Emotional Vulnerability, Guilt, Fear, Anxiety, and Isolation?
Do these feelings seem to be arising simultaneously with a time of change? As you enter this new stage in your life, do you sense your stability being challenged? If so, you may be experiencing existential issues. Symptoms might include a deep sense of distress about the meaning of life and preoccupation with future unknowns.
Navigating Existential Questions
Questioning your existence to see whether your life has meaning, purpose, or value is a common human experience. Without confronting your existential dread, your contemplation can begin to negatively impact you.
Life Challenges and Transitions
- Divorce: You are an adult going through a divorce and feel that your life is falling apart.
- Career Change: You have just sold your startup company that embodied your identity, and now you are lost as to what to do next.
- Expectations and Loneliness: You have followed the letter of the law and met expectations from parents, educators, clerical, and clinical advisors but find yourself suddenly alone and unsatisfied.
- Health Concerns: You have been given a harsh and terminal diagnosis from your doctor.
What Now?
You can begin to work independently with these helpful tips as you firm up your decision to engage and register for an appointment.
Learn more about what to expect from existential therapy, its benefits, and possible interventions used in sessions. If you are ready to journey together:
- Get more comfortable with not knowing.
- Reaffirm your values.
- Talk to loved ones.
- Keep a journal.
- Meditate.
- Take time for lightheartedness.
Latest Posts on Existential Issues
Increasing Your Self-Awareness and Self-Understanding
Discovering Your Capacity for Self-Awareness
As we move through therapy, you will have the opportunity to learn that all people have the capacity for self-awareness. Each of us has a unique identity that can be known only through our relationships with others. We must continually re-create ourselves as life’s meaning is constantly changing.
You will be able to view anxiety and other uncomfortable emotional states not as pathologies but as integral parts of the human condition. Psychological problems often arise from inhibited abilities to generate authentic, meaningful, and self-directed life choices. Interventions in therapy aim at increasing your self-awareness and self-understanding. To alleviate discomforting symptoms, it is important to first understand them.
Effective for Various Issues
This type of therapy is effective for a variety of issues, including:
- Excessive anxiety
- Apathy
- Alienation
- Nihilism
- Avoidance
- Shame
- Addiction
- Despair
- Depression
- Excessive anxiety
- Apathy
- Alienation
- Nihilism
- Avoidance
- Shame
- Addiction
- Despair
- Depression
Beneficial for Everyone
Therapy isn’t only for the troubled and unwell. It is also beneficial for those who sense an opportunity for improvement. It often focuses on life-enhancing experiences such as:
- Relationships
- Love
- Caring
- Commitment
- Courage
- Creativity
- Power
- Will
- Presence
- Spirituality
- Individuation
- Self-actualization
- Authenticity
- Acceptance
- Transcendence
- Awe
What to Expect from This Therapy
When addressing existential issues, we use various approaches, focusing primarily on your responsibility and freedom. Here’s what you can expect:
Core Principles
- Finding Meaning: We help you find meaning by choosing to think and act responsibly, confronting internal thoughts rather than external forces like societal pressures or luck.
- Fostering Positive Qualities: We encourage creativity, love, authenticity, and free will to help you move toward transformation.
- Positive and Flexible Approach: Despite its focus on existence and purpose, this practice is meant to be positive and adaptable.
Themes and Philosophies
- Ultimate Concerns: According to philosopher Paul Tillich, existential psychotherapy confronts life’s “ultimate concerns” like loneliness, suffering, and meaninglessness.
- Universal Issues: Psychotherapist Irvin Yalom identifies universal concerns as death, isolation, freedom, and emptiness.
Our Therapy Focus
- Anxiety and Conflicts: We address anxiety that arises when confronting inherent conflicts and emphasize personal responsibility in decision-making.
- Empathy and Support: Following Yalom’s model, the therapist acts as a “fellow traveler” through life, using empathy and support to encourage insight and choices.
- Interpersonal Presence: Recognizing that people exist in the presence of others, our interactions are vital to understanding ourselves.
At the End of the Day, We’re Here to Help You Clarify Your Goals
Since everyone's values are different, we'll define what value-based living looks like for you. Then we’ll ask, "What would it look like if you were living more consistently with your values?" Instead of feeling powerless in your situation, we’ll explore what’s within your control.
We'll identify actions you can take to support your goals. Finally, we’ll help you establish maintenance practices for preventing and preparing for future life challenges independently.